Small gardening advice?

[me]

I'm single and have never had a food garden

Any advice on ways to have very small and easily maintainable gardens?

And what could I grow? I'm in north Missouri.

[cardarch]

Dear ME: Its rather late to start a vegatable garden. I suggest that you go to your local nursery or garden store and see what they have to offer in containers. If you'd like to slave away, you can dig up your little plot and plant some string bean seeds. and some new zealand spinach. and try some pumpkin seeds just for the heck of it. Why do you want to go to so much trouble anyhow? XXO Doro

[e-mail] wrote:

[me]

Yep I know its late now

Thinking of something for next year

Wanting to do it to save money and provide better quality food. Kind of an experiment in "drop-out" lifestyle.

I'm thinking containers are bets for me as I have no way of plowing up a spot. Plus..... I live alone so don't want too much produce....just to throw away.

[George.com]

have a look at

needent build as big and deep as the first article suggests, I haven't, however the step by step guide is very useful. You also needent buy anything, can use any good readily biodegradable items. Get what you can free such as used coffee grounds from a cafe, waste veges from a local greengrocer, dried leaves, shredded paper from offices etc. This type of garden can be made and fertilised very cheaply. If you can get hold of free animal poop use that as well. If you leave it for a few months ready for next spring you will have a garden ready to plant in to. People who say you have to have peat moss to make a garden, or you need to buy compost, or you must have xyz fertiliser to grow abc type plants are either lying or trying to sell you something you can often get free or cheap elsewhere.

or container gardens

[George.com]

haven't,

if you source enough free waste by products you likely don't need to buy any fertilisers at all to grow vegetables. Your yield may be down a little if you fail to add specific fertilisers to specific crops however they will still grow without micro management. Animal poop contains Nitrogen, Posphorous and Potassium (N-P-K). If you add enough the volume will make up for low levels. Wood ash (untreated wood and no coal) and saw dust (untreated) is high in K. Local fish mongers may have left over fish guts and off cuts that are nicely balanced in N-P-K. Coffee grounds have a 3-1-2 mix of n-p-k. If you source it right and mix it right in a raised garden you can get it all free. You can use the garden as a ready composter, throw it all in and let nature break it down over months. This will occur either by hot composting or cold composting. If using fish off cuts bury them to stop animals and flys.

rob

[cloud dreamer]

Containers are a great way to start. One thing to remember is that you have to use potting soil in the containers. Regular soil would be too compact and would not hold a lot of water. I often cut the potting soil with a shovel full or two of peat. I also add a handful of composted manure and bone meal (depending on what you're planting).

I grow tomatoes, potatoes, cauliflower, celery, cucumbers and corn in containers this year. Nothing would stop you from planting carrots, onions, strawberries, even peas in a container. I use containers like 30 litre (5-6 gallon?) white buckets, the pots you get when you buy a tree and cedar pots or half barrels you can buy at the store.

Your best bet is to buy a good gardening book that you can refer back to when needed. One of my first was Lois Hole's Vegetable Favorites.

..

Zone 5a in Canada's Far East.

[Puckdropper]

"cardarch" wrote in news:1152315630.165607.68920 @m79g2000cwm.googlegroups.com:

Now may be a good time to start if you're going for an in-ground garden. Start removing the grass that's in the area you've got and consider edging it out. (So the grass doesn't creap back in.)

You may want to put down some black plastic and "solarize" the soil. The main point here is to kill off the grass that will want to grow back up when you start next spring. (Someone else will have to tell you the best time to do this--I never have and have grass problems.)

If you want something to get your feet wet with, plant some green beans. Garden Bean Providers are what I grow around here, and they'll give you a useful crop this year. Peas could be the same way, but this is my first year growing them.

Keep your eye out for good deals on tools as stores change over. You'll probably want a hoe, pitch fork (a poor man's tiller among other things), and trowel.

Puckdropper

[ToweringQs]

[e-mail] wrote: "I'm single and have never had a food garden

Any advice on ways to have very small and easily maintainable gardens?

And what could I grow? I'm in north Missouri."

1) It's not too late to grow some food in a north Missouri garden this year. The time for most Summer crops has come and gone, but a Fall garden of brocolli, cabbage, cauliflower, spinach, lettuce, and onions is still possible! First-timers usually have better success with transplants than seeds, so get thyself to the garden center or local fed-n-seed toward month/s end to see what you can get.

2) Small gardens are also easily maintained gardens, so you/re in luck!. Better to have a small, well-tended garden than one too large that suffers from neglect.

With a spade (to scrap off the sod) and potato fork (to loosen / crumble the soil), you could easily create a 4' x 20' garden in less than two hours. If it/s been dry, water the area for about an hour in the morning, then plan on working the soil the day after.

3) What you can still grow this year will depend on the average date of the first frost in your area.

like the average first frost date is Oct 10 in extreme north MO, so you still have 92 growing days, if you hurry.

[J.C.]

I highly recommend you got to Amazon.com and for about 10 or 20 bucks buy the book "Square Foot Gardening"

[Boise Girl]

OR ...

Go to the local library - that books has been around long enough that is probably there :)

[Boise Girl]

OR ...

Go to the local library - that books has been around long enough that is probably there :)